


Be somebody

by Sylvalum



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Falling In Love, Fluff, Post-Canon, look guys i heard the shipname was pneumonia and then how could i not?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-30 01:10:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18305111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylvalum/pseuds/Sylvalum
Summary: The first word Nia would’ve used to describe Pneuma was resolute.





	Be somebody

 

The first word Nia would’ve used to describe Pneuma was resolute.

There on Azurda’s back, flying toward Elysium, all three of the Aegises had appeared in a sudden blaze of light. Pyra, smiling tenderly, and Mythra, looking tired but satisfied. And standing behind them, Pneuma, looking like a soldier with her stiff posture, careful distance from the rest of the gang, and her ancient armour, gleaming and otherworldly.

_Why is she here?_

Said nobody, but Pneuma seemed to hear it anyway.

She smiled in a tiny, forced movement, and then they made landfall.

 

 

* * *

 

 

After resolute, Nia would’ve said ‘graceful’.

Both Mythra and Pyra were prone to hilarious bouts of clumsiness (Pyra kept insisting those had nothing to do with Rex’s proximity, nothing at all) but Pneuma never showed anything of that. She moved with precise movements, was smooth, was strong and tall, and quite beautiful too so maybe, _maybe_ Nia would’ve been interested in her if there had like, been _any_ point in it. LOVE REX was bound to be basically coded into her DNA if she shared anything at all with the other two Aegises.

So Nia could only appreciate her looks from a distance.

Pneuma wasn’t reserved, exactly, but she still wasn’t quite _in_ the group like Pyra and Mythra were. Though that might’ve had something to do with how short a time she had spent with the gang so far. Zeke tried to change that, but Pneuma (like many others) seemed to find Zeke just completely incomprehensible, so Nia decided to step in instead.

So when they made camp, she went up to Pneuma instead of dozing off against Dromarch, and sat down next to her. “Hey,” she began. “You doing alright?”

“I think so,” Pneuma said neutrally.

“So.” Nia looked out at the landscape. There was a lot of trees. “What do you think of this whole chunk of land?”

“New Elysium?”

“Well I sure am not talking about _Old_ Elysium…”

Pneuma made a sound that, if it came from Nia, would’ve been a snort. She brushed a long strand of hair out of her face, pursed her lips, and glanced off into the distance. The firelight reflected in her eyes, and really, this was getting out of hand-

Nia looked away.

“It’s beautiful. That we can start again here…”

“A new beginning?” Nia said, carefully. Hoping for… she didn’t know what.

“Yes,” Pneuma said.

Nia said, “Hmm.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Next, and Nia really was just forced into this one, but still: she would’ve picked _unpredictable_.

After they had made landfall and made camp, slept, eaten, and talked to some Ardainian soldiers milling nearby, they had started talking about what to do next. (Pyra almost glowed – she was alive, she was with Rex, and neither of the two stopped looking at each other and beaming for longer than a minute at a time. Mythra was a tad more dignified.) So yeah. Yeah.

Mòrag and Brighid wanted to find Emperor Niall of course, so they quickly bid farewell and left. Zeke and Pandoria said that they had better head over back to Tantal to check up on ‘the old man’, Tora and Poppi decided to stick with Rex, Pyra and Mythra, and then the only ones left were…

Nia and Dromarch. And, strangest of all, Pneuma.

There seemed to be a silent assumption that she would go with the other Aegises.

Pneuma made no move to do so.

So, Rex and Pyra packed up their stuff while Poppi tried to make Tora do the same. Mythra came up to Nia and snarked, “Not to be that person, but don’t be a stranger, Nia? We all we know we’re gonna end up in Fonsett sooner or later, so you _better_ visit.”

Nia said, “Aw, gimme a hug, you big sap.”

They hugged each other. Mythra then quickly walked away to hide that she was smiling, so Nia stood there and smirked, until Rex and Pyra came up to say their own goodbyes.

At least this goodbye wasn’t a forever, it wasn’t a last farewell, it wasn’t the end. (A new beginning… maybe) They were all going to see each other again.

But Nia couldn’t blame Pyra for clinging hard, for blinking too much and clearing her throat.

“Take care of Rex,” she told her.

“Take care of Pneuma,” Pyra replied, and that one left Nia just staring at her in incomprehension until Rex tried to hug her.

_Take care of Pneuma?_

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

-apparently what it _meant_ , was that Pneuma really _wasn’t_ going with Rex and the Aegises. No, instead she asked if she could tag along with Nia and Dromarch.

Of course, but why would she _want_ to?

 

 

* * *

 

 

The forest quickly turned to desert.

Not the rocky, ragged terrain of Mor Ardain, cluttered with its bushes and metal constructions everywhere. No. The desert of New Elysium, this was one was all sand, like an endless beach. Dunes stretching out for titanpeds, just a big orange blur…

Unsurprisingly and unfortunately, things still lived there in the mounds of sand.

-it took Nia by surprise when it happened.

She was walking through the sand, in her Official Blade Outfit™ because it was cooler than her regular yellow onesie, and then suddenly an Aspar shot up from the sand in front of her and spit venom at her. “Bloody _hell_ ,” she hissed and stumbled backwards, Dromarch yelled _my lady_ , and then Pneuma was rushing forward, swinging a large green-white sword-

Blood sprayed and the Aspar’s head hit the sand.

“I didn’t know you still had a sword,” Nia blurted out, stunned. She was pretty sure she had blood drops on her clothes.

“Neither did I.” Dromarch did his best impression of a frown.

Pneuma glanced at the sword in her hands, and let it dissolve into Ether particles. “Apparently I… do?” She hummed.

Then she offered a hand to Nia, who let herself be pulled to her feet _before_ remembering that she wasn’t into romantic shit like that, had dignity, and was a strong and independent Driver.

(and then she immediately thought about Pneuma picking her up and carrying her, bridal style)

“Thanks,” Nia said gruffly.

“Thank you for saving my lady,” Dromarch said nobly. “I’m indebted to you.”

“It was nothing,” Pneuma replied, and casually wiped a few drops of blood from her gauntlet.

Nia put another item on the list: _intimidating_.

 

 

* * *

 

 

They made camp night after night, and Nia always slept curled up next to Dromarch, while Pneuma laid by herself on the other side of the campfire.

Yet slowly, ever since the Aspar Accident, they had started gravitating towards each other.

Until one night when Nia laid awake, she could _hear_ the sound of Pneuma’s steady breathing. Just there. And when she reached out her hand, she could poke Pneuma in the back.

Alive and so close.

Nia had to think about that for a long while before she could fall asleep.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Pneuma was reliable, and before long she had made herself a part of Nia’s life and routine. Pneuma was… comfort. Safety. Was becoming almost as familiar as Dromarch, which _whoa there_. There was the road which ran ever onward, there was Nia of course, there was Dromarch, and then there was Pneuma. It wasn’t at all like being on the run, except that was kind of what they _were_. Running towards instead of from, maybe. Towards a future…

-or y’know, maybe Nia was just starting to sound like Rex.

But either way, Pneuma was _there_. Which was pretty great! Because Nia had resigned herself to being the third wheel, the odd one out, the left-over loser when Mòrag and Brighid had had their grand royal wedding and Zeke and Pandoria had eloped, and Rex and Pyra and Mythra had probably built a house in Fonsett with a white picket fence and a king-size bed.

(Nia supposes she could’ve made a “Sad Losers Club” with Tora as co-founder, but that would’ve just been pathetic)

Instead she watched the sun rise with Pneuma and Dromarch, looking back at all the titanpeds they had crossed. Looking forward at the green hills and deep valleys in front of them – maybe a part of Gormott? – and instead of thinking about how it’s gonna go wrong, how this or that will be an obstacle, she thinks, _I’ve got Pneuma with me. We’re getting through this no problem._

“I find myself looking forward to tomorrow,” Dromarch admitted.

Nia quietly agreed.

 

 

* * *

 

 

She was actually quite fascinating, if you were bored enough to start thinking about it.

”Still don’t get it,” Nia whined to Pneuma, lounging across her lap as the rain pounded against the roof. Thankfully the Nopon settlers they had stumbled upon had given them shelter from the storm.

”It’s like when you’re cooking, and you put ingredients together, and then you’ve made something,” Pneuma said, who was decent at cooking: take Pyra’s stellar gourmet skills and combine them with Mythra’s I-will-give-you-food-poisoning, and they kinda cancelled each other out. “It’s not just eggs, sugar and flour together, it’s _dough_. I’m not really Mythra plus Pyra, I’m more like…“

“Coffee with milk,” Nia said, smirking.

Pneuma sighed. “Why can’t we just-“

“ _Coffee_ with _milk_ ,” Nia sing-songed gleefully, and Pneuma swatted at her sullenly. Nia blew her a raspberry.

“It doesn’t matter, right,” Nia then said. “You’re _you_ , who cares what you’re made of if the end result is amazing?”

Pneuma’s breath caught, and then she let it go.

Nia wondered with a rising sense of anxiety if she should backtrack.

Then Pneuma leant down and bumped their noses together, and Nia’s anxiety crested and fell and exploded, and then she was pushing herself up so that Pneuma could slot their mouths together.

She tasted like metal, Nia thought giddily, and Pneuma pulled Nia up to sit in her lap, fingers dancing lightly across her cheekbones, and when had Nia closed her eyes? She opened them again just to take a glimpse, and of course Pneuma was far too close to her face. Cheeks flushing, eyes closed and green strands falling in her face, and Nia thought, _she’s beautiful_.

She’s _mine_.

 


End file.
